Ozim is the dog of Ben Robbins, who works at our Indiana distributor, Cavalier (based in Indianapolis). He’s protecting some fresh cases of Centennial IPA, which had just been delivered to their warehouse. “My two favorite things: Founders Centennial IPA and my dog,” Robbins says.

As was announced in this MLive article, we are planning to release specialty beers in a 750mL bottle format later this year. Our new packaging line allows us to use this new bottle size—and we’re excited to be able to distribute some of our limited release beers, which were previously only available in kegs and almost exclusively in our taproom, in bottle form for more to sample.

We’re not ready to announce what our first few releases will be yet, but only a couple have been confirmed. That being said, if you’d like to share what beer you think we should offer in a 750 in the comments, know that we WILL read it—though we’re not making any guarantees.

We’d been working on developing a cutting edge beer for two years or so, and we were able to perfect the recipe recently. Unfortunately, we ran into some rights issues with the working name we’d been using. But we’re brewers and craft beer geeks. When we run into obstacles, we see opportunities. We realized this was our chance to see what the people who drink our beer think. Hey, if you like us, then we respect your opinion, because we know you know what’s good. So we’re asking for your help in choosing a name and a label for this new beer.

Now, imagine yourself sitting around a table, beer in hand, brainstorming with a bunch of brewers, cellar masters, packaging whizzes, and other beer geeks.

Here are the materials you’ll need to help you make your decision:

A description. The beer you’ve been waiting for. Keeping your taste satisfied while keeping your senses sharp. An all-day IPA naturally brewed with a complex array of malts, grains, and hops. Perfectly balanced for aggressive aromatics, moderate bitterness and a remarkably clean finish. It’s the perfect companion for tall tales around the bonfire, working around the yard, or introducing great craft beer to your Uncle Ernie and Aunt Claudia.

We have the “original Red” painting hanging up in the brewery (above). It’s the basis for the label of our Red’s Rye PA, which started as a taproom-only beer for a few years and went through a few name changes before becoming what it is today. This painting was done from a photograph of a man in Kalamazoo by Justin Bernhardt.

We’re in the running for the brewery with the best handle on social media, according to this survey by the Beer Wench. We’re super excited because it’s something that we’ve worked to improve over the past ten months or so. We’d appreciate it if you could support us by filling out the survey‚Äîand feel free to comment on this post with what you think we could do to improve our social media presence.

According to the revolution/rotation of the Earth—and the creators of calendars—spring is here (at least it is wherever you can find Founders beer). It doesn’t feel like spring yet at the brewery because Michigan winters don’t let go easily, but we’re looking forward to busting out some t-shirts. We’ve put six of our t-shirts on sale to help everyone get ready for spring (some are only discounted online). Here’s a retro baseball-style tee that has us dreaming of Opening Day:

Bottles of Founders beer will be available in the NYC area starting March 26. Bottles of KBS will be available (in limited quantities) starting April 2. Check our beer locator to see where we are currently distributed and to find contact information for our distributors if you’re interested in locating a particular beer.

March heralds in that time of year when even people who don’t know the difference between double dribbling and traveling fill out brackets and dutifully watch the NCAA men’s basketball tournament (or at least the highlights, so they know who won).

A few media outlets have decided to build upon everyone’s bracket fever by producing beer brackets. Here are some that feature our beer:

The Washington Post‘s Beer Madness 2011 bracket pits 64 beers against one another. It’s split into four different types of beer (malt, hops, roast, fruit & spices) rather than four regions. You can find‚Äîand vote for‚Äîour Dirty Bastard in the malt section.

Our friends at the Whiskey Goldmine are giving beer enthusiasts the chance to fill out brackets and submit them in an attempt to predict what beer will win in their taste testing tournament. Our Breakfast Stout, Porter, and Centennial IPA are all in the running.

Rumor has it that DRAFT Magazine may be hosting a bracket with another of our beers up for the national championship…

Valentine’s Day is on the way. Everyone gets their lady flowers, chocolates, and/or a teddy bear‚Äîwhy not surprise her with some Founders underthangs (and perhaps some beer for the two of you to split)?

Bourbon barrels filled with KBS have been aging in the caves beneath our fine city of Grand Rapids for a year and were delivered to our production facility yesterday (see above).

The official distribution release date for KBS is the Ides of March (3/15). However, we’re having our KBS release party in our taproom three days earlier, on Saturday, March 12. We’ll see you here if you want to be one of the first to try the 2011 batch of KBS (bottled and on tap). Doors open at 11am (as usual) and evening entertainment will begin at 9:30pm. Limit one case per customer, while supplies last.